The Meanings Behind Easter Eats

This Sunday families across the country will gather together. Children will search for eggs containing chocolate eggs hidden by a rabbit with a basket, adults will nibble on hot cross buns, and all will come together for a meal of ham or lamb. On any other Sunday, this might seem odd. But on Easter all of these things are entirely appropriate and encouraged. But why?

Easter Edibles

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

Lamb

Though it may not top chocolate eggs in popularity, lamb is the most traditional of Easter eats. According to the Oxford Companion to Food, its significance is based both in Christianity and Paganism, when Easter did not exist but a celebration of the spring equinox did. In Christian theology, lamb symbolizes Jesus' self sacrifice as the "Lamb of God." But the concept of a sacrificial lamb dates back to Pagan times when lamb symbolized spring, as that was when lambs were ready for slaughter.

Being the more available meat than lamb in America, ham became the Easter meal of choice early on in American Easter history. It didn't hurt that back in pre-refrigeration days, meat was cured in the fall and ready to eat in the spring, leaving them as the perfect post-Lenten treat. Ham was also adopted as the meat mascot by early Christians, according to FoodTimeline.org.

These days it wouldn't be Easter without eggs. Whether they're plastic and hidden in a bush, foiled-covered and made of chocolate or cooked in a traditional style, eggs are the ultimate symbol of secular Easter (apart from that bunny with a basket). Eggs join lamb in being a symbol of spring and rebirth. But eggs also have a Christian connection. According to The Catholic Encyclopedia, in early Christianity, eggs were one of the forbidden items to eat during Lent. So they were one of the first things consumed in celebration of the end of Lent. Eggs also symbolized the rebirth of mankind through Jesus' self-sacrifice.

Food Timeline quotes An A-Z of Food & Drink as saying that "the practice of eating special small cakes at the time of the Spring festival seems to date back at least to the ancient Greeks." Hot cross buns are a particular Easter specialty, notably because they have a cross on them in frosting, symbolizing, of course, Christianity and the cross on which Jesus died. The BBC writes that sharing one of these buns with a friend on Good Friday will cement the friendship. According to the Oxford Companion to Food, bread is a common and ancient object of sacrifice. The Egyptians used to offer up small cakes marked with the symbols of gods and the Greeks and Romans had similar practices. The Saxons ate buns that honored the goddess of light, Eostre. Sound familiar? It is the origin of the word Easter.